Battalion | Service
History Summary | Emblem |
sPz-Abt
501 | Formed
in the summer of 1942, It was shipped to Tunisia in December 1942. Saw action
at Tebourba, Hamra and most notably Kasserine in February 1943. Surrendered with
rest of Axis forces in May 1943 after fierce fighting in the Medjerda Valley.
Battalion reformed around the companies that has remained in Europe in occupied
France. Full battalion then sent to Eastern Front in November 1943 and fought
in Vitebsk and Gorodok. It was decimated in the Soviet offensive that destroyed
Army Group Centre in July 1944. After being reformed and refitted with King Tigers,
it was sent to the Eastern Front again as the redesignated 424 Battalion. Fought
in retreat to Germany through Poland and saw action in the Ardennes and Hungary.
Battalion finally disbanded in February 1945. |
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sPz-Abt
502 | This
was the first heavy tank battalion to be formed during the Summer 1942. It was
also the first unit to see action on the Eastern Front at Leningrad in August
1942. It was an inaudacious start. Many broke down or got bogged down in marshy
terrain. Several were captured by the Soviets infantry due to lack of support
from their own infantry. During the great Soviet counter-offensive of 1944, it
withdrew into Kurland and fought defensively around Memel and Konigsberg. Saw
action in Normandy from July 1944 onwards. Reformed in early 1945 as sPz-Abt 511
and refitted with King Tigers. Surrendered to Soviets on May 1945. By that time,
this battalion has recorded some 2,000 Soviet armoured vehicles destroyed. |
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sPz-Abt
503 | Formed
in Spring 1942. First saw action on Eastern Front in January 1943. Spearheaded
the German winter counteroffensive. Took part in the great tank battles at Kursk
in July 1943 and the retreat to the Dneiper as part of III Panzer Corp. In January
1944, it was grouped with a Panther battalion to form Heavy Panzer Regiment Bake.
Fought in battles around Cherkassy where it destroyed 267 Soviet armoured vehicles
in one action over 5 days. Withdrew to the West in April 1944 and refitted
with King Tigers. Fought in Normandy after D-day where it suffered heavy losses
to enemy fighter-bombers and naval gunfire. Fully refitted in September 1944 and
despatched again to Hungary on the Eastern Front. Renamed as sPz-Abt 'Feldherrnhalle'
and attached to the Panzer Grenadier Division of that name. The entire division
was trapped in Budapest in January 1945 by the Soviet winter offensive and was
detroyed in the final battles on the Eastern Front. This was perhaps the most
effective Tiger battalion of the war. Click here
for formation of
Heavy Tank Battalion 503 at September 1944. |
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sPz-Abt
504 | Formed
in January 1943, most of this unit was sent to Tunisia where it was nearly destroyed.
Saw action around Maknassy and Medjerda. The rest of the battalion was sent to
Sicily but withdrew to the Italian mainland after resisting the Allied Sicily
landings. Returned to Holland to refit but sent back to Italy to resist the Allied
beachhead at Anzio as part of the Hermann Goering Panzergrenadier Division. Fought
in the defence of the Gothic Line. Surrendered in May 1945. |
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sPz-Abt
505 | Formed
in January 1943, attached to the 9th Army, Army Group Centre and first saw action
in the battle of Kursk in July of that year around Smolensk. Formed the spearhead
of the northern front of the Kursk Salient. It remain in this sector until the
following summer when it was almost destroyed during the Soviet summer offensive.
Refitted with King Tiger Late Summer 1944, it fought in defensive battles in East
Prussia supporting the 24 and 25 Panzer Divisions - heavily involved in the defence
of the Narev Brideghead. Remained in East Prussia until the end of the war in
1945. Most recognisable of the heavy Tank Battalions with its distinct emblem. |
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sPz-Abt
506 | Formed
in July 1943, first fought in the defensive battles along the Dneiper River as
part of Army Group South. Saw action at Lemburg, Tarna and Krivoi-Rog in the Ukraine
until the summer of 1944. Withdrawn from the front to Germany in August 1944 and
refitted with King Tigers. Sent to help defeat the Allied airborne landings at
Arnhem in September 1944. In November, this battalion received a 4th company -
3 plus one HQ company is more usual. Assigned to I SS Panzer Corp. Saw action
in the Ardennes winter offensive, Hungary and defence of the Ruhr. Encircled and
forced to surrender to US forces in April 1945. | |
sPz-Abt
507 | Formed
in September 1943, first fought on the Eastern Front in the defence of Tarnpol,
Vitebsk and the Narev River front during January 1944. Served there until February
1945. Refitted with King Tigers while still in the line, it fought in the defence
of Czechoslovakia in the closing months of the war where it lost all its Tigers
in action. | |
sPz-Abt
508 | Formed
in August 1943 and sent to Italy in January 1944. Spearheaded the German offebsive
against the Allied bridgehead at Anzio and fought at Nettuno where it suffered
heavy casualties and during retreat through Italy. Re-equipped with King Tigers
early 1945, it was sent to fight on the Western Front. It was disbanded in February
1945 after all its tanks were either destroyed or disabled and the personnel reallocated
to other units. | |
sPz-Abt
509 | Formed
in September 1943, first fought on the Eastern Front where it saw heavy action
at Kirovograd, Zhitomir and Kiev. Briefly attached to the 2 SS Panzer Division
'Das reich' in late 1943 and fought at Kaminets-podosk. In 1944, it was committed
heavily to defensive action after the great Soviet counter-offensive in the Southern
sector. In late 1944, it returned to Germany where it was refitted with King Tigers.
In January 1945, it was sent to Hungary as part of IV SS Panzer Korps. Eventually
surrendered to US forces in Austria after losing all its tanks in action. |
Not
Known |
sPz-Abt
510 | Formed
in June 1944. One of the last Tiger I battalions. It was rushed to the Eastern
Front in the northern sector to try to halt the Soviet summer offensive in the
central sector. In East Prussia, the battalion was divided into two parts. One
part supported 30 Infantry Division. The other part supported 14 Panzer Division
and saw heavy action in the Kurland Peninsula in early 1945. In March, two companies
were withdrawn to Kassel in Germany. 13 Tigers remained with 14 Panzer Division.
The last tiger were lost on 8th May and the battalion surrendered along with
the other survivors after the fierce Kurland battles. This is the only tiger battalion
never to have been equipped with King Tigers, all of its tanks being late model
Tiger 1s. | |
sPz-Abt
512 | Battalion
created for Jagdtiger Tank Destroyers. |
Not
Known |
sPz-Abt
301 | Formed
in the summer of 1944, this unit was equipped with Tiger 1s and the BIV remote-controlled
demolition robot vehicles. Sent to the Western Front in November 1944, it saw
action during the Ardennes Offensive, where it was all but destroyed. |
Not
Known |
sPz-Abt
Kummersdorf | Formed
as a scratch unit in February 1945 to defend Berlin, It went into action with
the Munchenberg Panzer Division the following April and was destroyed as Soviet
troops swept into Berlin. | Not
Known |
Waffen-SS
Heavy Tank Companies | The
Leibstandarte, Totenkopf and Das reich Divisions were all provided with Tiger
1 companies in late 1942. They saw action on the Eastren Front during the following
year. | Not
Known |
101
SS Heavy Tank Battalion | Formed
from the Leibstandarte'ds Tiger company in the autumn of 1943 as the heavy battalion
assigned to the newly formed I SS Panzer Corp. It was sent to fight in Normany
in June 1944. Michael Wittmann eventually commended the unit until he was killed
in action near Caen. It was later re-equipped with King Tigers and saw action
in the Ardennes and Humgary. Front during the following year. (later redesignated
501) Click here
for formation of
Heavy Tank Battalion 101 at August 1944. |
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102
SS Heavy Tank Battalion | Formed
to support II SS Panzer Corp. It was sent to fight in Normany from June 1944 onwards.
It was re-equipped with King Tigers towards the end of 1944. (Later redesignated
502) | |
103
SS Heavy Tank Battalion | Formed
in 1943 with Tiger 1s, it never saw action and was later re-equipped with King
Tigers and sent to fight on the Eastern Front. |
Not
Known |
653
& 654 Panzerjager Battalions | Formed
to use the 90 Elefant and later Ferdinand heavy self-propelled guns in early 1943,
they first saw action on the northern wing of the Kursk offensive. They suffered
heavy losses due to the lack of a hull machine gun for close defense against Soviet
infantry attacks. The remaining Elefants were withdrawn to Italy and fought at
Anzio. The 653 was later re-equipped with the Jagdtiger for the Ardennes offensive.
Two other Jagdtiger battalions were formed in early 1945. They fought in the West
until the end of the war. | Not
Known |